Improvement in apparatus for controlling the velocity of steam-engines



Patented NovI 28,1871.

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICEl WILLIAM E. WORTHEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,306, dated November 28, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. WORTHEN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Apparatus for Controlling the Velocity of Steam-Engines 5 and that the following, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the drawings, Figure l is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, of a steamengine with my improvement applied thereto in one of its simplest forms. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a winding-engine with my improvement attached.

It is a fact well known to engineers that the motion of an engine cannot be stopped by merely closing the throttle and shutting off the steam; and it is also known that such closing of the throttle or a disconnection of the valves from the gear, commonly called unhooking, will not always prevent the engine from running at a dangerous velocity. It' the momentum of the engine itself, or the mechanism put in motion by it, did not exceed the friction of the engine this effect would not happen; but the fact is, almost always, otherwise; and locomotive-engines, hoisting or Winding-engines, fast-running propellerengines, rolling-mill engines, 8vo., are in need of some device that will check their velocity or bring them entirely to rest, in case of emergency,

more promptly than can be done by shutting the throttle. Such a contrivance is especially needed in locomotives and in winding-engines, although the latter are generally provided with brakes, by means of which their velocity can be controlled while weights are being lowered.

My invention consists in4 a contrivance by means of which I can cause the engine, at will, to pump steam into a closed reservoir, thus creating a gradually-increasing elastic resistance to its motion, the suddenness of the stoppage or decrease of velocity of the engine depending upon the size of the reservoir and the degree of accuracy with which it is closed; and I reduce my invention to practice by combining with the exhaust-pipe or passage of an engine a valve suitable for closing such passage, which Icall a brake-valve,7 and steam-valves that will not be blown off their seats when the pressure in the exhaust-passage between the cylinder and the brake-valve exceeds the boiler-pressure.

In the drawings, the steam-valve is shown at a a as of the ordinary short-slide variety, with projections cf, or a face which slides against the cover or back of the steam-chest A. This valve cannot be blown from its seat. The aperture for the steam-pipe connection is shown at b; the exhaust-pipe or passage at d d; and the brakevalve at c c, the latter being represented as an ordinary balanced wing-valve, turning upon a central or nearly central axis. Iprefer for the brake-valve a nearly-balanced puppet-valve, so located that a pressure in that part of the exhaust-passage between it and the piston tends to keep it shut. e is a hand-lever, to operate brake-valve c.

Now, supposing thisA engine to be part of a winding-apparatus and that `this apparatusbe engaged in lowering a weight, then it is evident that the descent thereof can be controlled by manipulating the brake-valve by means of a lever, such as e, or other contrivance, and that the descent can be stopped entirely by closing the brake-valve, at which time the exhaust-passage between the piston and the brake-valve be comes a closed reservoir, into which steam from the boiler is pumped by the engine at each stroke until the back pressure on the piston brings the engine and weight to rest. In case of a locomotive, a decrease of velocity or a stoppage of the engine and its attached train will ensue upon the partial or entire closing of the brake-valve; and in all cases where my invention is used it will be unnecessary either to unhook, reverse valve-gear, or shut throttle, and the engine will always be in condition to start again when the brake-valve is opened.

My invention is quite as applicable to low as to high pressure engines, the brake-valve in the former case being between the exhaust-valve and condenser; and this application of it is particularly useful in steamboat-engines, as by means of it the stopping, starting, and slowing down of the engine can be governed by the pilot or ofl- The exhaust-pipe d, brake-valve c, and lever e,

in combination with the steam-chest of a steamengine, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

WM. E. WORTHEN.

Witnesses G. STELEY,

N. A. BEACH. (69) 

